Hungarian Grand Prix – Free Practice 1: Russell sets fastest time in the rain, Perez crashes

George Russell sets the fastest time in this first free practice session. The Mercedes driver is ahead of Oscar Piastri and Lance Stroll in the rain.

A session with two red flags

The running time was very limited due to two red flags. The first one occurred very early in the session. Sergio Perez went off track, the Mexican driver hit the turn 5. His car had to be towed back by the recovery vehicle. A flag that cost the drivers 10 minutes.

The return to normal did not change anything for the drivers, none of the other 19 racers sought to set a timed lap right after the restart. Many drivers went out to do only one lap on intermediate tires. The goal of this outing is to be able to obtain an additional set of tires to use throughout the race weekend.

A second red flag occurred at the end of the session. It was caused by the Spanish driver Carlos Sainz. There were less than 10 minutes remaining in the race when the Ferrari driver spun out. He got stuck while trying to get back on track, forcing the marshals to deploy a red flag.

An end to the timing session

The last 5 minutes of the free practice session saw several drivers go out to set a time. There were 13 drivers who fought to clock a time in this rainy session. At the Hungaroring, George Russell set the fastest lap time followed by Oscar Piastri in his McLaren and Lance Stroll, who is known for his strong performances in wet conditions.

The ranking of Free Practice 1 for the 2023 Hungarian Grand Prix in F1